1956: Raoul Hinay's Escape

The Legend:

Sometime in the late summer of 1956, a concert troupe visited the town of Sulmona, Italy. One of the members of this troupe was Raoul Hinay, a fity year old Hungarian who claimed to have learned strange Yogi powers in India. To prove this point, he was buried alive in front of witnesses to show he could survive what others could not.

Hinay insisted his hands be tied first, then he was laid in a coffin and lowered into a grave, which was then filled. Eight hours later, the coffin was dug up, the seals placed in advance were confirmed to still be in place, and the box was opened up... and only the ropes that bound his hands remained in the coffin. Hinay had disappeared.

There was no tunnel or other means of escape from the coffin. At the time of writing, Hinay had still not been found.

False Lead, but...

I have hunted pretty well, but can find no reference to this event other than the issue of FATE Magazine from 1957 in which I first found it. Unless some other form of evidence turns up, it has to be considered a False Lead due to a lack of actual evidence.

Having said that, it needs to be noted that the bref mention this event got in the 1957 issue of FATE Magazine appears to have been partial inspiration for a much better known -- and also false -- paranormal account. See the link below!

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